Researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine have learned by studying mice that protein-destroying "machines" hovering in the connections between brain cells might impede the formation of memories.

What's interesting is that these cylinder-shaped machines -- called proteasomes -- are helpful to memory when they occur in a cell's nucleus. It's only when they linger in the dendrites -- the branches at the end of a nerve cell that transmit electrical signals to other cells -- that they interfere with memory.

The study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, is important because it could pave the way to future treatments for Alzheimer's and other dementias that focus on blocking the activity of proteasomes in the dendrites with the goal of improving memory.

Illustration of Neurons in the Aging Brain © A.D.A.M.